Check Out These Blogs!

Blogroll

“So I’m packing my bags for the Misty Mountains where the spirits go now. Over the hills where the spirits fly, oh, I really don’t know.” Misty Mountain Hop – Led Zeppelin

(July 15, 2015) I stepped out of the van, took a stretch and like a punch to the face I was taken by surprise. Whilst picking my jaw up off of the ground, this glorious and wondrous feeling swept through me. It felt like butterflies fluttering through my stomach and up into my heart; this was Glacier National Park.

There’s absolutely nothing else to say. Any more words would be lost by how amazing this place looks and is. Truly, this is one of the most beautiful sites I’ve ever seen.

Like this:

“In a big country dreams stay with you, like a lover’s voice fires the mountainside. Stay alive.” In a Big Country – Big Country

(July 14, 2015) state has a not-so-nice area or region, however I have not found it thus far. Montana amazes and astounds at every turn. This wasn’t lost in Kalispell.

This town gives you the feeling that it possesses history while also displaying modern living. Mountains play softly in the background of what looks to be a town that stepped out of the old west. In fact, there is one place here named, “Moose’s Saloon” where they have saloon doors and there was some talk of having those same swinging saloon doors since their established date but of this I am not certain.

We were hungry and in need of nourishment and this place looked cool. It was definitely different because the people were NOT friendly who were serving us.

It may have been deliberate or unintentional, either way it wasn’t my favorite place but I definitely appreciated it for what it was. We made it a good time anyway 😊

If I lived in this state I would sit outside every day­ ­­- on not so cold or hot days – and gaze at these mountains. I have fallen in love. Too bad I have no interest in ranching.

Like this:

From the time I was 12 years old and had watched, “A River Runs Through it” and witnessed so many other films covering Montana, my heart yearned deeply to witness this beauty that so many call, “God’s Country”. Trust me when I say, this IS God’s Country. If you are looking to find solace from the everyday torment of work, politics, drama, social media and anything else that may be causing you stress, this is the place to go. When we entered Montana my heart beat heavily. With eager eyes and my head smushed against the van’s glass window my need to jump out of the van and experience the air and everything that was Montana grew rapidly and without ceasing. I begged dad to stop the van and so he did. I stepped out onto the road that quickly turned into grass to witness this miracle that God had created. We looked around and my heart swelled.

There was a stream at every turn and at every other turn people were fly fishing just like what was depicted in “A River Runs Through It”:). Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of this as they were so far away that they wouldn’t show up in the picture had I actually taken one. I couldn’t believe how everything I was seeing with my own eyes looked just like what I had seen in movies. You always think that movies make things look better than what they are OR they take away from what they really are. In this case it was everything I thought it would plus more. The beauty of this is unparalleled.

We even stopped to get some pics of ourselves 🙂

Oh! Look’s like Miriam has the selfie stick this time! *hehe* 🙂

Everything looks like an image out of a book. It looks and feels so unreal. It’s just one continuous jaw dropper. And if you’re not convinced wait until you check out my blog post on Glacier National Park!

As we were driving by the railroad tracks, I felt transported back to the early 1900’s envisioning a time when trains were a steady means of transportation along with the horse and sometimes a car. I could just hear the train’s horn blowing as the passengers leisurely gaze out the window at their surroundings never knowing that there would someday be airplanes, portable telephones and what we have come so desperately to depend on: the internet. Life was more simpler back then and I wonder if sometimes all of this technology we have now really is good for us. It’s something to ponder.

Dad, forever patiently waiting for me to get every single last picture I could muster. 😉

To me this is the second most beautiful place on earth. I’ve never grown up in the mountains and never saw real mountains until I went to Washington. Besides the paradise that I grew up in (river & ocean), this would be my other choice in complete equivalence, though different scenery. It truly is God’s country.

Like this:

“I look once more just around the river bend, beyond the shore where the gulls fly free. Don’t know what for, but I dream the day might send just around the riverbed for me.” Just Around the Riverbed – Judy Kuhn

Nothing but open road, fields and mountains. When traveling, some people find that the ride itself is boring. Well that may be true if you’re on the same path over and over again, but a new one? No way. It’s one of the most enjoyable experiences for me. I love gazing out onto the that beautiful format of which has been given to us. The sky feels so open on the western part of the U.S. Everywhere you go out there reminds you of a movie about the “old west”. It brings back memories of watching films about pioneering, hardships and freedom. Then I start to think about how people lived in the 1800’s and how they struggled to maintain land. Coincidently I also think about how we took away the land of Native Americans. Either way, the open road is beautiful.

As funny as this may sound, I have never seen a dust devil. I’m not even sure if what this is a “dust devil”.

It’s too light for a tornado so maybe it was either a dust devil, or a landspout. I would be interested to know if anyone has an answer. It was SO neat. I’m always fascinated by the uncontrolled mother nature. 😀

We were going to stay in Spokane but we decided to continue on into Idaho. We landed in Post Falls.

I think the curiosity for me and Miriam was kind of peaked at this point because we were starting our journey. Idaho to us might as well have been Timbuktu. Our eyes were wide as we looked around at what appeared to be a small town.

We settled into a hotel and as soon as we were settled, we went out in search of FOOD and found Capone’s

It wasn’t bad at all. The atmosphere was okay. Kind of reminded me of something you’d see in a Boston Pub.

…and also felt like a hoarder lived there. LOL Some people like that sort of thing. To each his own. 🙂 We ordered the Thai Curry wings – I don’t know why – and they ended up tasting quite odd. Other than that it was pretty decent. Not bad food. Probably wouldn’t be my go-to if I visited there again.

We weren’t upset about anything. This was a new experience and even if the food was garbage I think we would have still found pleasure in the fact that we were in a different and new place. We were exploring and enjoying the experience. But for me, this was merely a rest stop for the big adventure to come: MONTANA 😀

“Love in an elevator. Livin’ it up till I hit the ground.” Love in an Elevator – Aerosmith

I need to first start by apologizing for having not posted anything for 7 weeks! That’s quite a long time but with my move to Greensboro and the semester just starting, I’ve been busy with a full schedule. I will blog about that later. 🙂

Visiting Seattle once was great. Visiting Seattle twice…FANTASTIC! I got to see some of the things I didn’t get to see the first time around. For example, this time I was able to ride the Monorail, go on an underground tour, and go up in the Seattle Space Needle. You can do a lot of activities and still never see everything. In that respect it reminded me of DC. Then again, a lot of big cities are like this but hey, it gives people the entertainment and fun they normally wouldn’t get.

We started off in Seattle by doing, “Bill Speidel’s Underground Tour”. If you ever get to go to Seattle, PLEASE visit this. It’s really worth the tour and very historic. You wouldn’t even know that there was an underground city would you? Nope. Seattle built their city ON TOP OF the original city they built. If you want more info check out: Seattle Underground City It’s just an overview of the history. It’s also wikipedia. 😉

Our super funny tour guide Clay was there to give us all the info 😉

This is an image of what the city looked like many years ago before they built over top of it.

Pretty neat huh? So now, the underground city is made up of tunnels and passageways.

*wink wink*

I think all of us really enjoyed the tour. Our tour guide made it so interesting and funny which is why I suggest doing this if/when you visit Seattle. At the gift shop, Miriam and I tried our luck at getting a fortune..unfortunately there was no fortune as Swami just took our money and started blabbering in unintelligible speech. We’re not letting it get us down.

At this point all of us were ready for some lunch. Learning and walking really work up an appetite. We headed toward Pike Place in hopes of gathering food.

We were successful and found a Red Robin.

After lunch, we headed into the center of Pike Place Market so the nieces could experience that. Incase you wanted to see the original Starbucks here it is.

If you want more information on Pike Place Market or see more videos and images, check out: Seattle Part 1 It has the guys who throw the fish and some really neat iconic things.

Pike Place took up a good chunk of time so after that we headed straight for the Space Needle! This was super exciting because it’s such a famous attraction and my mother had been there once before when she was a kid when it had first opened for public viewing! How cool right? Check it out:

How neat right?! I will say I did make it through but going up to the top really was a bit scary. I HATE heights (as you already know) and this was no different. Here’s a little secret *whispers* I had my eyes shut the whole time. 😉 lol